3 Acknowledgments The authors thank Michael Likosky, senior fellow at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University, Elliot Sclar, professor of urban planning at Columbia University, and Yonah Freemark of the Transport Politic for their review of this report. Thanks also to Carolyn Kramer for her editorial assistance. U.S. PIRG Education Fund thanks the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation for making this report possible. The authors bear responsibility for any factual errors. The recommendations are those of U.S. PIRG Education Fund. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders or those who provided review. Copyright 2011 U.S. PIRG Education Fund With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursuing their own narrow agendas, U.S. PIRG Education Fund offers an independent voice that works on behalf of the public interest. U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer Americans meaningful opportunities for civic participation. For more information about U.S.PIRG Education Fund or for additional copies of this report, please visit Frontier Group conducts independent research and policy analysis to support a cleaner, healthier and more democratic society. Our mission is to inject accurate information and compelling ideas into public policy debates at the local, state and federal levels. For more information about Frontier Group, please visit Design: Harriet Eckstein Graphic Design Cover photo illustration: Renfe Operadora, Dirección de Comunicación, Marca y Publicidad

4 Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 5 Public-Private Partnerships: What They Are and Why They Matter 6 Public-Private Partnerships and their Role in High-Speed Rail 6 Models of Public-Private Partnerships 9 The Pros and Cons of Public-Private Partnerships 15 Potential Benefits of PPPs 15 Potential Problems of PPPs 17 Evaluating the Experience Abroad 21 Protecting the Public Interest: Principles for High-Speed Rail PPPs 30 1: Governments Must Only Pursue PPPs for the Right Reasons 30 2: PPPs Must Deliver Identifiable Added Value PPP Contracts Must Align Private Sector Incentives with Public Sector Goals PPPs Must Only Be Pursued in an Atmosphere of Competition PPPs Must Only Be Pursued by Capable and Prepared Governments There Must Be Clear Accountability in PPP Projects The Public Must Retain Control over Key Transportation-System Decisions PPP Contracts Must not Impose Unreasonable Limitations on Future Government Action PPP Contracts Should Be of Reasonable Length PPPs Must Be Subject to Extraordinary Transparency 35 When Do PPPs Make Sense? 35 Are PPPs Really Worth It? 35 Notes 37

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6 Executive Summary Private sector companies are likely to play a major role in the construction of high-speed rail lines in the United States. Even as California nears construction of the nation s first high-speed rail line, however, it remains unclear just how the private sector will participate in building out the nation s high-speed rail network. Public-private part nerships or PPPs have come to play an important role in the construction of high-speed rail lines around the world. In a PPP, the public and private sectors are supposed to share the risks, responsibilities and rewards of infrastructure development. The experience with high-speed rail PPPs around the world, however, has been mixed. While PPP arrangements have brought private capital and expertise to the task of building high-speed rail, PPPs have also resulted in cost overruns, government bailouts, and other serious problems for the public. America must learn from these experiences and pursue PPPs only in situations in which they make sense and do so in keeping with a series of key principles designed to protect the public interest. Public-private partnerships will likely be part of the development of high-speed rail in the United States. High-speed rail systems require billions of dollars in financial capital, which cash-strapped state and federal governments are likely to seek through partnerships with the private sector. California is moving forward with the creation of the nation s first true highspeed rail system, and it is required by ballot initiative to obtain private investment in the project. Amtrak is seeking to involve private investors in its plan to bring true high-speed rail service to the busy Northeast Corridor. The U.S. Department of Transportation has signaled that private investment will play a key role in achieving President Obama s goal of linking 80 percent of the U.S. population via high-speed rail by Executive Summary 1

7 All high-speed rail public-private partnerships require substantial public investment. No modern high-speed rail line has ever been built with only private capital. In several recent and current European high-speed rail PPPs, the public sector has been responsible for more than half the capital cost of the high-speed rail line. No two public-private partnerships are alike. There are countless varieties of highspeed rail PPPs, meaning that each such partnership is unique and must be evaluated on its own terms. Public-private rail partnerships have the potential to unlock access to private capital, expertise, technology and economies of scale, and can also help mitigate the risk of high-speed rail projects to taxpayers. However, PPPs also come with a number of risks and costs, including: Higher costs for capital, as well as costs related to the profits paid to private shareholders. Heightened risk for the public once a project has begun, due to the ability of private-sector actors to hold projects hostage and demand increased subsidies or other concessions from government. The costs of hiring and retaining the lawyers, financial experts and engineers needed to protect the public interest in the negotiation of PPP agreements and to enforce those agreements over time. Loss of control over the operation of the high-speed rail line, which can result in important transportation assets being operated primarily to boost private profit rather than best advance public needs. Delays in the early stages of a project, as government and private partners engage in the difficult and complex task of negotiating PPP agreements. High-speed rail PPPs and efforts toward rail privatization abroad have a mixed track record. In Taiwan, the government s efforts to pursue a fully private-sector built and financed high-speed rail line fell apart despite rising ridership as the private company responsible for building the line faced a financial crisis caused by its reliance on highcost debt. The Taiwan government ultimately stepped forward to bail out the company and refinance its debt. In the Netherlands, a series of problems led to massive cost overruns in the construction of a high-speed rail line, most of which became the responsibility of the government. The PPP process was characterized by illegal collusion among bidders for the construction contracts, poor coordination among the various contracts, and unexpected delays that required the government to provide emergency bailouts. In Great Britain, an effort to privatize the operation of the nation s rail infrastructure led to a decline in the system s safety. Excessive use of contracting, coupled with poorly designed incentives, caused delays in the response to known safety problems and a massive backlog of critical maintenance projects problems that contributed to a deadly train accident 2 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

8 in In the wake of that accident, the formerly private infrastructure provider was reorganized as a government-regulated non-profit. Portugal engaged in thoughtful development of a PPP strategy for construction of its high-speed rail system. However, Portugal s high-speed rail program still required a large investment of public resources and the nation may be responsible for paying financial compensation to its private sector partners if it pulls back on its high-speed rail construction plans in the midst of a devastating financial crisis. Public officials should use a set of common-sense principles to evaluate public-private partnerships and should refuse to pursue PPPs that do not serve the public interest. The principles that should guide government s approach to high-speed rail PPPs are: 1) Governments must only pursue PPPs for the right reasons, such as the ability to deliver a public project for lower price or with higher quality rather than use PPPs to avoid budgetary discipline or compliance with labor standards or other regulations governing public projects. 2) PPPs must deliver added value for the taxpayer, as measured by a comprehensive test that includes all the relevant costs of a high-speed rail project. 3) PPPs must align private sector incentives with public sector goals, ensuring that private sector partners experience penalties and rewards that forward the public s interest in timely and cost-effective completion of the project and effective and safe operation. 4) PPPs must only be pursued where ample competition exists for the service being put out for bid. 5) PPPs must only be pursued by competent, well-prepared governments with the ability to defend the public interest in contract negotiations and to properly monitor and enforce contracts as they are carried out. 6) There must be clear public accountability in PPP projects, with one government agency responsible for overseeing the project and holding contractors accountable for their performance. 7) The public must retain control over key transportation-system decisions, ensuring that high-speed rail lines are built and operated in ways that are consistent with the public interest rather than the maximization of private profit. 8) PPP projects must not impose unreasonable limitations on future government action, such as the non-compete clauses in some toll road leases that forbid government from improving other nearby transportation facilities. 9) PPP contracts should be of reasonable length, with contracts for the operation and maintenance of longlasting infrastructure being longer than contracts for trains, communications equipment and other items with faster turnover. 10) There must be complete transparency in the PPP contracting process and in the execution of PPP Executive Summary 3

9 contracts. When there is a conflict between public right to be informed and private investors confidentiality rights, the former should prevail. Government agencies considering PPPs should understand that even wellcrafted PPPs are not a panacea and that a strong government commitment to the project is likely necessary to draw productive private investment. Specifically: Governments should be prepared to undertake extensive early planning and environmental review of a project before submitting it to bid, in order to reduce project uncertainties and increase the comfort of private actors in submitting competitive bids. Governments should be prepared to reduce the risk of cancellation of a project mid-stream by providing fullfunding grant agreements that provide a multi-year commitment of government funds. Governments should acknowledge that public investment is necessary for the completion of a high-speed rail project and understand that even private rail proposals are likely to impose public costs, particularly in the event of a threatened private-sector default. 4 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

10 Introduction America s emerging push to build high-speed rail has taken its share of lumps in the past year. Newly elected governors in Ohio, Wisconsin and Florida shelved rail projects for which billions of dollars in federal funding had already been allocated, while congressional negotiators have imposed significant cuts to the federal high-speed rail program. These setbacks difficult though they may be are likely only temporary. Rising oil prices, increasingly crowded highways and airports, and the demands of a 21 st century knowledge economy all demand that the nation pursue improved passenger rail service, including the construction of new high-speed rail lines. California is now poised to build the nation s first true high-speed rail line, with construction on the first segment of the line due to begin in As California s high-speed rail system moves ahead, the discussion has begun to turn from the question of whether to build high-speed rail to the question of how to build it. Among the most important of the issues that must be resolved both in California and in other high-speed rail projects around the country is the question of how best to divide roles between the public and private sectors. The multi-billion dollar cost of high-speed rail lines provides a powerful incentive for government agencies to find private-sector partners willing to share in project financing and in the assumption of risk. These public-private partnerships or PPPs have become common around the world as a means of building large infrastructure projects, including high-speed rail lines. But the experience with PPPs in the development of high-speed rail has been decidedly mixed characterized by both apparent successes and grand failures. It is not too soon for the United States and especially California to learn from the experiences of high-speed rail PPPs abroad, to develop principles that will enable public officials to determine whether a PPP is the right way to approach a particular project, and to structure PPP agreements that protect the public interest. Introduction 5

11 Public-Private Partnerships: What They Are and Why They Matter The United States is in need of new transportation solutions. Our highways and airports are increasingly congested, making travel, even between cities just a few hours apart, inconvenient and frustrating. Meanwhile, our reliance on oil continues to threaten our economy, our national security, and our environment. High-speed rail is a potential solution to many of these challenges. Americans are excited about the prospect of a clean, efficient new means of travel; nearly twothirds of Americans support federal or state funding for high-speed rail. 1 But the American people aren t the only ones enthusiastic about high-speed rail. Businesses from around the globe are eager to compete for the billions of dollars in infrastructure spending that will accompany the nation s investment in high-speed rail. In 2009, 30 companies from around the world committed to establish a presence or expand their existing presence in the United States if they are chosen to supply components for high-speed rail. 2 Prior to its cancellation, the Florida high-speed rail line attracted interest from seven teams including dozens of firms from around the globe. 3 In California, a request for expressions of interest from private firms drew more than 1,000 responses, while 22 funds have expressed interest in financing part of the system s construction. 4 The construction of high-speed rail in the United States will inevitably involve both the public and the private sector. Effective partnerships between the public and private sectors are critical if the nation is to get the high-speed rail network it deserves at a price it can afford. Public-Private Partnerships and their Role in High-Speed Rail The term public-private partnership (PPP) is vague. In the broadest sense, it can be construed to include almost any part of the economy. In the most commonly used sense, however, PPPs are arrangements in 6 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

12 which government and private sector firms share in a project s risks, responsibilities and rewards. PPPs are distinguished from traditional government contracting in that the private sector partner is more integrally involved in a project s development and execution than as a contractor for hire. Private-sector firms might be involved in helping to design a piece of infrastructure, finance it, or operate it once construction is complete. In the American context, there are two types of public-private partnerships that are likely to come into play in development of the nation s high-speed rail network. The first type involves partnerships between the government and the owners of existing freight railroads that are proposed for upgrades in the federal high-speed rail program. Many of the initial highspeed rail projects approved for funding under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) fit into this category, representing incremental improvements in service on existing rights of way owned by incumbent freight railroads. Any attempt by the government to encourage high-speed rail service on these existing lines will likely require regulations paired with government provision of either subsidies or capital investments to entice freight railroads to accommodate high-speed passenger services on their tracks. These partnerships while critical to the development of an effective passenger rail network for America are not the focus of this report. Instead, we focus here on the use of public-private partnerships for the construction of high-speed rail lines on new rights of way. These projects which include the California high-speed rail network, the proposed construction of a true highspeed rail system in the Northeast, and the previously proposed Florida network are likely to be the most expensive projects in the development of the nation s high-speed rail system, but also the projects with the greatest impact. It is critical both for the protection of the public purse and for the future of the nation s high-speed rail program that these projects be managed and executed effectively. As a result, it is important that the nation approach the use of PPPs in the realization of these projects with care. Figure 1. Potential Players, Tasks and Relationships in High-Speed Rail PPPs Public-Private Partnerships 7

13 Who Pays for Public-Private Partnerships?: The Myth of Privately Funded High-Speed Rail Government officials and the media sometimes believe that privatization enables the public sector to get something for nothing brand-new infrastructure paid for entirely through private-sector investment. In the case of high-speed rail, there has been no such thing as a fully privately funded modern high-speed rail line anywhere in the world. Recent high-speed rail lines built or begun in Europe have typically required government entities to pay more than half the costs of the project. For instance: The Netherlands HSL-Zuid line which links Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands to Belgium relied on the public sector for 86 percent of its budget. 5 The Perpignan-Figueres high-speed rail connection between France and Spain benefited from a public investment of 57 percent of project costs. 6 The initial segment of Portugal s high-speed rail network is projected to be built with 55 percent of its budget coming from public sources. 7 The new Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line in France will be built with 50 percent public investment from France and the European Union. 8 Even projects that were originally intended to be fully privately financed such as Great Britain s High Speed 1 line and Taiwan s high-speed rail system eventually benefited from heavy government investments in the form of loan guarantees and the purchase of partial or full ownership of the companies that built the lines. As American policy-makers consider how to finance future high-speed rail investments, they must remember that PPPs do not provide a free lunch. The capital-intensive nature of high-speed rail development coupled with the difficulty of projecting future ridership means that private investors are unlikely to take on the full financial responsibility of building a high-speed rail line. Public investment in high-speed rail has been necessary everywhere it has been built. Often, however, that public investment can be justified by the myriad long-term public benefits economic, environmental, energy security-related and more that accrue from high-speed rail construction. 8 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

14 Models of Public-Private Partnerships As noted above, the term public-private partnership is vague, and can be used to describe many different types of relationships among public, quasi-public and private sector firms. Indeed, the number of possible combinations of participants, relationships and divisions of responsibility in PPPs is sufficiently vast as to make every such arrangement unique. The Players At first blush, the definitions of public and private in a public-private partnership seem clear: a public entity is the government; a private one a corporation. In reality, however, there are a variety of potential players in PPPs some of which fall into the hazy middle ground of quasi-public organizations, which blend the attributes of public and private sector entities. Among the potential players in a PPP are the following: Government agencies: Government agencies can play two roles in PPPs: as investors and participants. All high-speed rail projects in other countries involve public investment of some kind. Indeed, it is not uncommon for several different governmental entities to invest in a high-speed rail project in Europe, for example, the European Union and individual nations often invest resources together in high-speed rail (sometimes with additional contributions from local governments), and the same can be expected for state and federal governments in the United States. Far fewer projects, however, involve government agencies as the direct builders or operators of high-speed rail systems, with those roles often being left to government-owned corporations (see below). China is perhaps the prime example of government participation in high-speed rail construction. In China, all rail projects (including high-speed rail) are carried out by a government ministry. 9 The construction and maintenance of the lines are usually paid for with public funds or government bonds. Government-owned corporations: Government-owned corporations sometimes called state-owned enterprises are by far the most common drivers of high-speed rail construction internationally. These are organizations that are accountable to the government but operate as businesses. Amtrak in the United States is an example of a government-owned corporation 10, as are the state-owned railways in many nations that have taken leadership in the development of high-speed rail, such as those in France, Spain and Germany. While governmentowned corporations are often heavily influenced by government in their core business activities, they often have latitude to branch out to other lines of business or to the provision of rail service in other countries. Non-profit corporations: A lesscommon participant in rail operation is the state-chartered non-profit corporation. The main example of this type of player is Great Britain s Network Rail, which manages the nation s conventional rail infrastructure. Network Rail acts as a non-profit agency, funneling all revenues from its management of the country s rail infrastructure back into stations and tracks. Non-profit corporations can also act as investors in for-profit high-speed rail operations Britain s High Speed 1 rail line, for example, Public-Private Partnerships 9

15 is currently operated by a consortium that includes the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan. 11 Private corporations: Private corporations accountable primarily to their shareholders are also potential participants in high-speed rail operations. In Japan, the Shinkansen highspeed rail network (much of which was built by Japan National Railways during its days as a governmentowned firm) has been privatized, with six large, regional, privately-owned companies responsible for operating high-speed rail service. Joint ventures: Finally, any of the above categories of actors may join forces in a joint venture, which itself can be a party to a PPP. In the Netherlands, for example, the concession for operation of trains on the HSL- Zuid high-speed rail line was granted to a joint venture called High Speed Alliance, 90 percent of which is owned by the state-owned Dutch national railway, NS, and 10 percent of which is owned by Air France-KLM. 12 An arrangement between the Dutch government and a firm 90 percent owned by the Dutch government, therefore, holds the appearance of a public-private partnership, but is actually closer to a public-public partnership. The Tasks The construction and operation of a highspeed rail line is a massive logistical, engineering and construction feat, involving the organization of vast amounts of capital and thousands of laborers in a complex array of tasks over the course of many years. The tasks involved in building a high-speed rail line can all be the responsibility of a single entity, or they can be distributed among many participants. The necessary steps in the construction of a high-speed rail line include: Finance: High-speed rail lines are typically multi-billion dollar projects that require the assembly of capital from a variety of sources, including various government entities, publiclyowned firms, and private investors. High-speed rail lines are complex systems, involving the construction of civil engineering works, the laying of tracks, the operation of trains and stations, and the development of effective signaling, communications and safety systems. Credit: flickr user mostlybytrain, photo used with permission. 10 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

16 The responsibility for financing a high-speed rail line may be carried out by the government or assigned to a private entity as part of a larger PPP. Design: Design of a high-speed rail line includes decisions on routing and station location, as well as technical specifications of civil engineering works (grading, tunnel boring and bridge construction), tracks, signaling and stations. Public entities typically engage in at least some level of design at minimum, choosing the route even in projects in which private-sector entities are responsible for detailed design. In addition, government agencies are typically responsible for reviewing the design for consistency with environmental and other regulations, often with a large degree of public input. The Ingredients of a High-Speed Rail System Another dimension of complexity in high-speed rail PPPs is the division of labor for construction of the system. A high-speed rail line may be seen either as a single, integrated entity, or as a collection of ingredients for which the responsibility can be split among a number of contractors. Among the ingredients of high-speed rail projects are: Civil engineering works: These are the basic public works over which a highspeed rail line travels, including the graded rail bed, tunnels and bridges. Tracks: These are the physical structures of the rail line, including rails and power systems. Communications and signaling: These are the systems that enable rail service to operate safely over a given set of tracks, including communications, signaling and train protection systems. Stations: Including related amenities such as parking lots, restaurants and shops. Rolling stock: Including the high-speed trains themselves and other maintenance equipment. Maintenance facilities and equipment A final ingredient of high-speed rail service might be called systems. Each of the above categories represents a set of tangible assets that must be built, maintained and operated individually for a high-speed rail system to run smoothly. However, these categories do not include the information and other components that enable these assets to mesh together as a coherent system for example, scheduling, ticketing, coordination of maintenance schedules, and management. Public-Private Partnerships 11

17 Construction: Construction of a high-speed rail line includes basic civil engineering work, laying of track and installation of power systems, design and implementation of control systems, supply of rolling stock, and construction of stations. Maintenance and operation: Each of the physical components of the rail must be both maintained in good working order and operated on a dayto-day basis. These tasks can all be managed by a single entity, or may be undertaken by separate entities. For example, in Europe, the task of maintaining and operating the entire train system has historically been centralized in state-owned railways. More recently, however, European nations have separated the task of maintaining and operating the physical infrastructure of their rail systems from the task of operating train service, and are in the process of opening the latter task up to competition. (See Beyond PPPs: Open Competition in European Rail Service, page 13.) The Relationships PPPs can be arrayed on a spectrum from those that are more private that is, closer to the experience of full private ownership to those that are more public. Private construction and ownership: At the most private end of the publicprivate spectrum are projects in which the role of the government is limited to providing regulatory oversight (or in some cases, financial subsidies) to private-sector builders of high-speed rail. Historically, this is how much of the U.S. railway network was built in the 19 th century, with privatesector companies sometimes benefitting from government subsidies or other forms of assistance laying the tracks and providing service. In the United States, the DesertXpress high-speed rail line between Victorville, California, and Las Vegas has been proposed as an entirely privately owned and operated system, though it may benefit from government subsidies, including access to federal loans. 13 Concessions: traffic-based: A concession is a grant of permission for a private firm to build and operate an asset and collect revenues from that asset for a fixed period of time and/or until other conditions in the contract have been met. In these agreements, concessionaires use the revenue stream from their operation of the facility or service to pay off debts incurred in the construction of the line and to pay for ongoing maintenance and operation of the system. 14 There are many varieties of concession agreements, but for the purpose of evaluating high-speed rail PPPs, they fall into two categories: those in which the concessionaire s revenues are based on the usage of the line which we ll call traffic-based concessions and those in which they are not. Traffic-based concessions often take the form of build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects, in which a firm is granted a concession to build and operate a high-speed rail line, financing its investment with payments from riders, and then returning the project to the government when the concession expires. In Taiwan, for example, the same firm that built the high-speed railway also operated revenue service on the line. But there are also traffic-based concessions in which the rail builder does not operate train service, but rather charges tolls or access fees to other companies that run train service on the line. An example of this arrangement is the Perpignan-Figueres rail line that links the rail systems of France and Spain. The line was commissioned by the national railways of France and Spain, operating as a joint venture, and was built by a consortium of private firms representing both nations. The concessionaire took 12 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

18 Beyond PPPs: Open Competition in European Rail Service P ublic-private partnerships represent one way to tap the skills of private-sector firms in the provision of high-speed rail service. European nations, however, are taking the additional step of opening some aspects of rail service to market competition between existing state-owned railroads and/or private train operators. These developments have little relevance for the United States, which is just now building its high-speed rail network. However, they are often mentioned in discussions about rail privatization in the United States, and are therefore worth discussing. Historically, Europe s railways have largely been built by state-owned firms, which also operated train service on those lines. Beginning in the early 1990s, however, the European Union issued a series of directives intended to change the way rail service was provided on the continent by mandating open access to rail lines. As opposed to the traditional arrangement in which state-owned firms could claim exclusive rights to run trains on their own tracks, the new system would operate more like the provision of intercity bus service over the highway network, in which any firm could provide train service, so long as it paid the appropriate access fees to the owner of the tracks and met other government standards. The first result of this shift has been the separation of many former state-owned railways into distinct organizations devoted to providing rail infrastructure and operating rail service. In some cases, as in France, this separation has resulted in the creation of separate companies. France created a new, state-owned infrastructure management company, French Rail Network (RFF), which is responsible for capacity allocation, contracting, traffic management, and maintenance, although it subcontracts the traffic management and maintenance to the passenger rail operator, [SNCF]. 17 RFF owns all intercity rail infrastructure in France except stations, which are retained by SNCF. 18 RFF collects track access fees, which are approved by the Ministry for Transport, from SNCF and other rail operators who wish to use the network. 19 In Germany, the infrastructure and rail operations functions are carried out by separate subsidiaries of the same firm, Deutsche Bahn (DB), a state-owned company. The company is divided into five large subsidiaries that handle track infrastructure, ticketing and sales, regional services, long-distance services, and freight. 20 To date, open access has not resulted in a great deal of competition for high-speed rail service. For example, although DB s tracks have theoretically been open to competition since 1994, the company s inherent advantages have led to only a small amount of private competition, limited mainly to regional service. 21 In France, international high-speed rail service is currently provided by Eurostar and Thalys, which are consortia of which the state railway, SNCF is a major shareholder. 23 There have been substantial political and technological barriers to broader international competition, but the European Union has been chipping away at those barriers for years, leading to the prospect of private firms competing with traditional state-owned firms and state-owned firms competing with one another to provide high-speed rail service to Europeans. Public-Private Partnerships 13

19 on financial risk in the venture in exchange for permission to operate the line s infrastructure for 53 years and charge tolls on every passenger and freight train that crosses the tracks at rates established in the concession agreement. 15 Concessions: availability payments: The second major form of concession agreement relies on fees called availability payments to pay back the private investment in a high-speed rail line. Under an availability payment concession, the firm that builds the line is also responsible for its maintenance and operations over the length of the concession period. Rather than the private entity recouping its investment in the line through fares or other revenues, however, it receives regular availability payments from the government, contingent on meeting specified benchmarks for the availability of the line. Some high-speed rail projects combine both kinds of concession agreements. The HSL-Zuid high-speed line in the Netherlands, for example, used separate consortia for the construction and operation of the rail system itself and the operation of the train service on the line. The concession for construction, maintenance and infrastructure operation was issued for a 25-year term, with the vendor scheduled to receive availability payments from the Dutch state, while a separate consortium won a concession to operate revenue service on the line. 16 Public tender contracts: Public tender contracts are contracts for specific services for which vendors are paid specific sums. This is the traditional way in which private-sector entities have engaged in the construction of public infrastructure in the United States and is how most high-speed rail lines in the world have historically been built. In these arrangements, governments or state-owned railways retain overall responsibility for planning and operation of the system, but hire contractors for specific jobs for example, the construction of a bridge or design and implementation of a signaling system. 14 High-Speed Rail: Public, Private or Both?

20 The Pros and Cons of Public-Private Partnerships Public-private partnerships are often touted as providing unique benefits above and beyond those that can be achieved through government action alone. At their best, PPPs merge the specific capabilities of public and private sector organizations. Additional benefits from using PPPs, however, are not always realized in practice and poorly designed PPP arrangements can expose the public to an array of financial and public policy risks. Public officials considering PPPs must therefore evaluate specific proposals and vendors carefully to ensure that promised additional benefits are realized. Potential Benefits of PPPs Risk Sharing One of the most important potential benefits of public-private partnerships is the ability to share the risk inherent in a major capital investment among a variety of public and private actors. High-speed rail lines are typically multi-billion dollar endeavors subject to a variety of risks from unexpected difficulties building tunnels through mountains or densely packed urban areas to delays in the completion of adjoining transportation infrastructure. Sharing risks between government and private entities can if done correctly make it more palatable for both entities to take the leap in building a project with great benefits for society. PPP agreements can share risk in a variety of ways: In a public tender contract, private contractors are held liable for building a piece of infrastructure often at a particular price and on a particular schedule. In an availability payment (designbuild-maintain) concession, private contractors are held accountable for quality workmanship by also being given responsibility for maintaining the line over a period of time. In a traffic-based concession agreement, private entities take on the risk The Pros and Cons of Public-Private Partnerships 15

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